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This is not a rant


Jim Morrison

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Are you asking about price because that's most important to you, or are you just not sure what other questions to ask?

Price = high quote & goodbye.

Not sure = a discussion about qualifications and inspections.

Erby

pretty good! I like it

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I think it's excellent and I'll use it as a template for my own responses in the future.

Another tack I've taken, by the way, is to let the customer decide on the price. When they ask about a discount, I just say, "Tell you what. I think that my inspection is worth XXX. After we're all done, though, if you think it's worth less, you can pay me anything you want." I've done that a few dozen times and no one has ever paid me less than my initial quote.

This is interesting, Jim. Has anybody else ever done this?

The folks at the Freakonomics blog talk about "pay what you want" pricing models on occasion, and it usually seems to work out pretty well. And I remember the guy who wrote "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School" (can't remember his name -- sports agent guy, died a few years ago) wrote that in his early years he did the same thing and only once did somebody not pay him the original quote.

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I think it's excellent and I'll use it as a template for my own responses in the future.

Another tack I've taken, by the way, is to let the customer decide on the price. When they ask about a discount, I just say, "Tell you what. I think that my inspection is worth XXX. After we're all done, though, if you think it's worth less, you can pay me anything you want." I've done that a few dozen times and no one has ever paid me less than my initial quote.

This is interesting, Jim. Has anybody else ever done this?

The folks at the Freakonomics blog talk about "pay what you want" pricing models on occasion, and it usually seems to work out pretty well. And I remember the guy who wrote "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School" (can't remember his name -- sports agent guy, died a few years ago) wrote that in his early years he did the same thing and only once did somebody not pay him the original quote.

It's an interesting concept but I've yet to see a Doctor, Attorney, Gas Station, Grocery Store, Auto Mechanic, Snow Plower, Pizza Shop, Flower Shop, Yoga Master or Shoe Shine Boy do this.

The problem is that anyone outside of our industry (except a few) has any clue what our worth is. If we all charged 2,000.00 per inspection then that would be the norm. The problem is that some of us fall into the used car sales mentality. How often do any of us go to the docs and haggle with them over price. Well Doc - I just came from Affordable Surgery's and they can fix my collapsed lung for half your price.

Or

Mrs. Goodfellow - "Well, I called Affordable Inspections (I kid you not, a real HI company in Cleveland) and they said they could do it for X".

Like it or not this is where selling (or you can call it educating if you like) always comes into play.

Anyone can drop their price, it's easy and the path of least resistance - but every time we do this we help turn the HI industry into a horse trading mentality.

We shall meet the enemy, and not only may he be ours, he may be us.

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I think it's excellent and I'll use it as a template for my own responses in the future.

Another tack I've taken, by the way, is to let the customer decide on the price. When they ask about a discount, I just say, "Tell you what. I think that my inspection is worth XXX. After we're all done, though, if you think it's worth less, you can pay me anything you want." I've done that a few dozen times and no one has ever paid me less than my initial quote.

This is interesting, Jim. Has anybody else ever done this?

The folks at the Freakonomics blog talk about "pay what you want" pricing models on occasion, and it usually seems to work out pretty well. And I remember the guy who wrote "What They Don't Teach You at Harvard Business School" (can't remember his name -- sports agent guy, died a few years ago) wrote that in his early years he did the same thing and only once did somebody not pay him the original quote.

It's an interesting concept but I've yet to see a Doctor, Attorney, Gas Station, Grocery Store, Auto Mechanic, Snow Plower, Pizza Shop, Flower Shop, Yoga Master or Shoe Shine Boy do this.

No, it's extremely rare. But you just heard Jim Katen, one of the very smartest guys you are ever going to meet, say that he's done it a few dozen times and never had a problem with a client. You can argue with a lot of things, but you can't argue with success.

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Epilogue: I just got back from the inspection. Lovely people. All's well that ends well.

Yeah,

They usually are. By the name, it sounded like the potential client might have been Asian. About 90% of my clientele are foreigners and about 95% of those are Asian.

For whatever reason, Asians seem to like to haggle about price more than Americans or Europeans. I think it's a cultural thing. (Now before you all start talking about how I'm a racist and am making bigoted comments, keep in mind that I've been married to an Asian for more than 31 years.)

Just stand firm on your prices and most eventually give up trying to whittle you down.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

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Epilogue: I just got back from the inspection. Lovely people. All's well that ends well.

Yeah,

They usually are. By the name, it sounded like the potential client might have been Asian. About 90% of my clientele are foreigners and about 95% of those are Asian.

For whatever reason, Asians seem to like to haggle about price more than Americans or Europeans. I think it's a cultural thing. (Now before you all start talking about how I'm a racist and am making bigoted comments, keep in mind that I've been married to an Asian for more than 31 years.)

Just stand firm on your prices and most eventually give up trying to whittle you down.

ONE TEAM - ONE FIGHT!!!

Mike

When I was younger I would never think to go into an electronics store or jewelry store and try to negotiate the price. It is now very common.

With all of the information available on the internet many department stores and big box stores (i.e. Walmart, Sears, etc.) are willing to lower their price to compete.

I can only assume that many people figure that if they don't ask they won't know if you are willing to negotiate.

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